Argentine Politics Thread

Argentina's determination to piss off the Falklanders and Britain without regard to the consequences continues with this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17946838

It's an Olympic advert they've filmed on the Falklands without asking for the Islander's permission. It ends with the slogan "To compete on English soil, we train on Argentine soil" and shows a man jogging around the islands. The Falklanders are raging about this, for obvious reasons.

I can't say I'm surprised that the Argentines are trying to politicise the Games and humiliate the British through scandalising them. I have a feeling it won't have the desired effect, however.

edited 3rd May '12 5:47:53 PM by CaissasDeathAngel

If Russia was holding the games and Finland was to film an ad like that about Karelia, I wonder if Finland would be banned from entering the Olympics...

If Pakistan did an ad like that about Kashmir and the games were in India, I wonder if there would be talk about banning Pakistan from the games...

Just wondering aloud...

I doubt they'd SURVIVE doing that in kashmir...

Interesting thought Best Of - I suspect Britain actually could get away with expelling Argentina from the Games, though obviously they shouldn't. Still, I'd guess that the Olympics would result in more solidarity/support for Britain, which would undermine petty attempts like those of Argentina to score cheap political points against us.

I think being banned from the Olympics would only benefit Argentina... In all seriousness, this is actually a large scale Flame Bait / Troll attempt, and the government probably wants a scandal to happen in order to bring attention to the Malvinas/Falklands issue.

I don't really know, plus South American countries (though probably without Chile) would support Argentina if that's the case. This would obviously bring even more international attention.

edited 3rd May '12 7:04:16 PM by Anfauglith

Which is why Britain is best off just issuing a polite diplomatic response that doesn't even make the international news and moving on with things. Nothing changes apart from the Falklanders being cheesed off for a while.

Here's the advert in question:

edited 3rd May '12 8:12:36 PM by Anfauglith

Just out of curiosity: has trolling ever really worked in the long-term on the international stage? Short and medium, yeah, you can find support. The problem is later. I can't remember a single incidence of sustained support, to be honest. Which... begs the question why this Argentine government keeps doing it...

Unless I'm just too tired to see an example of long-term trolling working.

Gandhi.

OK. Someone asks for a real-life success story of trolling as a tool in politics and I immediately think of Gandhi.

I need to go to bed right now.

Good night!

What a silly, underhanded, childish little jab. But, then again, remember these are Politicians: they're put in office for looks, not for brains.

I'm genuinely surprised our Government hasn't shot back with some snide remark yet, but I know the Mo D and Foreign Office occasionally slip some lines pertaining to current issues into their addresses.

OK... passive-aggressive trolling on grand ethical points versus a child having a rant about the sweeties that're just out of reach (and unpaid for) in a store? The first is a Trickster Mentor. The second is just a Spoiled Brat.

I take the point, though.

I think that, in this case, ignoring it might be a better course of action. Heck, smooze 'em when they come over and make a point of showing off just how much the little idiots are being well cared for in front of their friends (without sideways swipes). Whilst not budging a quarter-inch on the main topic.

edited 6th May '12 10:19:48 AM by Euodiachloris

Cheers for the link Anfauglith. Was that really a smart decision for the creator of that video? He's shown how British the islands appear (and assumedly the native population are), he's demonstrated that there's freedom for the Argentinians to roam all around the Isles if that's what they want. What he probably should have done was have causasian actors sneer and lob racist comments at the runner as he goes past throwing bread to bedraggled Argentinian children as they are worked to death in oil fields.

It'd be less less cheesy and forced too.

edited 4th May '12 5:52:01 AM by betaalpha

Like the less-forced observation. The "ouch, these push-ups are hard" ham-fest was amusing.

Also, props to the cinematographer: way to make the scenery look good! And, ultra-British. Was it just me who detected a certain... satire? Not necessarily directed at a single target?

Why didn't they just show this?

The athlete didn't go onto any private property while filming did he? If he did the Falklands could probably charge him with trespassing.

He went onto the islands at all when he wasn't permitted to do so - certainly he didn't have permission to film there. Not sure if he was legally obliged to do so, but it's certainly dickish to not ask permission, and it's factually a lie to claim the islands currently belong to the Argentines. Regardless of their claim, legally they are British.

This is getting silly now, isn't it? Next they'll be telling all the other kids in the playground that Britain has cooties.

^ That might explain the teeth, though...

Euodiachloris - Good point. Sounds like this trope :)

Then again they probably can't win - make Las Malvinas look awful and invite the fury of those who fought and died to try and get it. Make the place look enticing and loads of Argentinians might go over and spend cash, which would go into the local's pockets. They kinda settled on using a weird blue filter... unless that's what the Falkland Islands actually looks like!

Grrr. And lol :) *remembers he has a dentist's appointment in a few days*

edited 4th May '12 11:01:52 AM by betaalpha

What, it might explain how our teeth are so much better than anyone else's they seem to think we have bad teeth?

*taps his braces* Got these from Private healthcare, but had I been under 16, I'd have got them from the same guy for free. The NHS is kinda badass in that regard.

EDIT: On topic, reading an article on Huffington Post made me realise that the British Government's shrug on the matter is probably for the best. See how the Republicans have to react to Obama's campaign, rather than the other way around, rather than snorting and not changing their schedule. It's shocking, but this might be a case of mature foreign policy....

edited 4th May '12 11:23:03 AM by Minister

Thanks ^^ Anyways the decision was taken because in my opinion this advert has two main goals: the first one (as I already said) is to attract more international attention, and the provocative message alone already has the potential of making a scandal. But there's a second goal, and it isn't directed to the international community but to Argentinian populace: patriotism. I'm sure the advert explicitly shows how British the islands look in order to generate indignation in the viewers.

Anyways, they should have shown a TARDIS there.

edited 4th May '12 3:46:27 PM by Anfauglith

Eh? Why would that be indignation-forming? <honestly perplexed>

It's just showing the fact that that is what the Islands actually are like on the ground, rather than the little Argentina that might exist only in the minds of people who don't actually live there.

Do people seriously expect a place to try to look like what it isn't? <blinks>

(And, OK... no TARDIS — but one nicely looked-after phone box.)

edited 4th May '12 4:02:27 PM by Euodiachloris

Delicious irony over that advert - the company that did it is British-owned, and they're raging at the team responsible: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17963577

OK — now I'm positively, seriously getting deliberately satirical Stealth Cigarette Commercial vibes.

I think it's a put-up job to target 1) anybody who would actually buy it 2) anybody who would actually broadcast it and 3) anybody who would get annoyed by it. Pure 360° trolling from the ad-guys who thought they had a sense of humour. I'm mildly amused that Kirchner didn't spot it.

edited 4th May '12 4:46:30 PM by Euodiachloris